Idea Generation Using the Fictionation Design Tool in an Interactive Prototyping Course for Industrial Designers

Abstract

Fictionation is a design tool developed as part of an ongoing Ph.D. research, for supporting design students in their idea generation process. This paper describes a study in which the Fictionation design tool has been pilot tested in an Interactive Prototyping elective undergraduate course with industrial design students. The aim was to encourage design divergence, by inviting students into a fictional world where restrictive considerations of the design process do not exist for them. The study was carried out with thirteen students using the design tool in the idea generation phase of their projects. The submissions were analyzed for their visual contents. The results show that students were able to diverge in their design exploration, offering variety and novelty in their design ideas. Divergence in the idea generation phase of the design process in design education allows the students to extend the boundaries of the design solution space, and provide variety of ideas within this space, which in return, reflect on the quality of the final design solution. © 2022, The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG.